Saturday, July 7, 2012

Governor emphasises on affordable homes

"The developers need to
focus on building smaller and medium homes which are affordable instead of
trying to make money from speculation on land prices,” pointed out the governor,
during an interaction programme organised by NRB’s Former Employees’
Association on the topic 'Involvement of Financial Sector in Real Estate
Transaction'.

He pointed out that the central
bank will come strongly against the tendency of some developers who accumulate
land for speculative trading shooting up the land prices abnormally.

Governor Khatiwada also mentioned
that the deadline for reducing their exposure to realty loans to 25 per cent of
the total loan portfolio is already over but financial institutions have not
been able to do so.

"The central bank will
consider the safety of depositors’ deposits, and financial stability before
deciding on promoting certain industries,” he said referring to measures needed
to be taken for reviving the housing market in Nepal.

He also emphasised that
developers should not cut down forests or flatten hills in the name of housing
development. “More focus should be given on developing amenities such as roads,
drinking water facility, and drainage to provide better living conditions for
homeowners,” he said.

Former chairman of Janata Bank
Nepal Guru Prasad Neupane pointed out the need for low cost apartments and a
national policy to provide housing units to low and middle income people.
"To deal with bad assets of the financial institutions, an asset
management company has to be established, so that financial stability is not
affected” he said.